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Bé gi¸o dôc vµ ®µo t¹o

Tr­êng ®¹i häc d©n lËp h¶i phßng

NhiÖm vô ®Ò tµi tèt nghiÖp

Sinh viªn: NguyÔn ThÞ H­¬ng M· sè: 091175

Líp:NA 904 Ngµnh: Ngo¹i ng÷

Tªn ®Ò tµi: Offering and responding to offers in English and

Vietnamese

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..................................................................................... 1

PART I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................

1. Rationale ............................................................................................................ 2

2. Aims of the study .............................................................................................. 2

3. Methods of the study ......................................................................................... 2

4. Scope of the study .............................................................................................. 3

5. Design of the study ............................................................................................ 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................

CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ..................................................

I. Speech act theory ............................................................................................... 4

1. Definition ........................................................................................................... 4

2. Speech act hierarchy .......................................................................................... 5

2.1. Locutionary act ............................................................................................... 6

2.2. Perlocutionary act ........................................................................................... 6

2.3. Illocutionary act .............................................................................................. 7

2.4. Differences between illocutions and perlocutions ......................................... 7

3. Felicity ............................................................................................................... 8

4. Direct, indirect and nonliteral speech acts ........................................................ 9

II. Politeness ........................................................................................................ 10

1. Definition ......................................................................................................... 10

2. Strategies of politeness .................................................................................... 10

2.1. Bald on-record .............................................................................................. 11

2.2. Positive politeness ........................................................................................ 12

2.3. Negative politeness ....................................................................................... 13

2.4. Off-record ..................................................................................................... 14

III. Context .......................................................................................................... 15

1. Definition ......................................................................................................... 15

2. The importance of context ............................................................................... 15

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CHAPTER II: OFFERING AND RESPONDING TO OFFERS IN ENGLISH

AND VIETNAMESE ..............................................................................................

I. Offering ............................................................................................................ 17

1. What is offering ............................................................................................... 17

2. When do people offer ...................................................................................... 17

II. Offering in English ......................................................................................... 18

1. Offering in form of question ........................................................................... 18

1.1.Yes/no questions ........................................................................................... 18

1.2.Elliptic questions ........................................................................................... 21

1.3. Questions with How ..................................................................................... 21

1.4. Tag-question ................................................................................................. 22

2. Offering in form of statement.......................................................................... 23

3. Offering in form of imperative sentence ......................................................... 23

III. Offering in Vietnamese ................................................................................. 25

1. Offering in form of question ........................................................................... 25

2. Offering in form of statement.......................................................................... 27

3. Offering in form of imperative sentence ......................................................... 27

IV. Responding to offers in English and Vietnamese ......................................... 28

1. Responding to offer in English ........................................................................ 28

1.1.Accepting offers in English ........................................................................... 28

1.2. Refusing offers in English ............................................................................ 30

2. Responding to offers in Vietnamese ............................................................... 34

2.1. Accepting offers ........................................................................................... 34

2.2. Refusing offers in Vietnamese ..................................................................... 35

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATION ............................................ 39

1. Findings ........................................................................................................... 39

2. Implication ....................................................................................................... 40

PART III: CONCLUSION

1. Summary of the study ...................................................................................... 42

2. Suggestions for further study ........................................................................... 42

REFERENCES .................................................................................................. 43

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the process of doing the graduation paper, I have received a great deal of

assistance, guidance and encouragement from my teachers, family and friends

who have always been beside me. They have been a great source of inspiration

for me to complete this graduation paper.

First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor – Mr.

Trinh Van Sach, M.A who has always been most willing and ready to give me

valuable advice, inspiration and supervision to finish this study.

Secondly, I would like to give my deepest thanks to Mrs. Tran Ngoc Lien, M.A –

The Dean of the Foreign Language Department for her valuable teaching and

tremendous assistance.

In addition, my sincere thanks are also sent to all the teachers of Hai Phong

Private University, Foreign Language Department for their precious and useful

lessons during my four-year study which have been then the foundation of this

graduation paper.

Last but not least, I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to my devoted parents

for their patience, understanding and encouragement throughout the preparation

and development of this study.

Hai Phong, June, 2009

Nguyen Thi Huong

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PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale:

In today’s scenario of public relations, verbal contact of different cultures

becomes a necessity and the medium by which these communities communicate

therefore is of great important.

In the world, people from different countries speak different languages but it is

unable to negate that English is being the global language. While English is not

the most widely spoken language in the world, you look at it in terms of the

number of native speakers. English is the world’s most prominent language in

business, education, world news, and communication…To catch up with the rate

of development progress of the whole society, everyone is studying English.

However, English is also one of the most sensitive languages; and in order to

speak and use English properly; it is not easy at all. Since studying English the

author has strong interest in making offers. Many people don’t know how to

make offers and to respond to offers properly and effectively. Through this

graduation paper, author wants to help people understand clearly how to offer

and respond to offers politely.

Nevertheless due to my limited knowledge in English, this study can not avoid

shortcomings; I hope to receive your contributions so that my study will be more

completed.

2. Aims of the study:

The study aims at:

- Giving some understandings on speech act and politeness.

- Studying offering and responding to offers in English and Vietnamese.

- Presenting the structures in making offers and responses to offers.

- Providing some common conversations of offering and responding to

offers.

3. Methods of the study:

I do this research from the knowledge and experiences which I gained from my

teachers as well as reference books I have read in the process of learning

English. In addition, I have taken advantage of internet accessing; internet

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supplies such a large source of information that I can easily find datas relating to

the subject of my graduation paper.

In short, to study successfully and effectively in my studying process, the

methods of this study are:

- Information collection and analysis

- Personal observation and assessment.

4. Scope of the study:

In English, there are lots of interesting aspects to study. Being the author of this

study – offering and responding to offers is the most interesting field I have tried

to study.

Due to limited time and knowledge of an un-experience person like me, my

study only introduces a little about speech act, politeness, offers in English and

their responses, how to offer and respond to offers properly and politely,

introduces some conversations of offers.

When doing the research, the writer has paid much attention to make offers, to

see how to understand and use them properly in communication as well as for

their learning purposes.

5. Design of the study:

The graduation paper is divided into three parts and the second one is the most

important part.

Part I: Introduction, include Rationale of the study, Aims of the study, Scope

of the study, Methods of the study and Design of the study.

Part II: Development that states three chapters:

Chapter I: Theoretical background dealings with theory of speech

act, politeness and context.

Chapter II: Offering and responding to offers in English and

Vietnamese.

Chapter III: Some findings and implication I find out during the study.

Part III: Conclusion: summarize the study, state the orientation for further

study.

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PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

I. Speech act theory:

1. Definition:

Speech act theory argues that when we use language we are performing certain

acts. Traditionally philosophers have distinguished actions and speaking on the

basis that speaking about something is quite different from doing it. As a

consequence, all we can do of utterances is asked whether they are correct

representation of reality, not whether they work or not.

Making a statement may be the paradigmatic use of language, but there are all

sorts of other things we can do with words. We can make requests, ask

questions, give orders, make promises, give thanks, offer apologies, and so on.

Moreover, almost any speech act is really the performance of several acts at

once, distinguished by different aspects of the speaker's intention: there is the act

of saying something, what one does in saying it, such as requesting or

promising, and how one is trying to affect one's audience.

In general, speech acts are acts of communication. To communicate is to

express a certain attitude, and the type of speech act being performed

corresponds to the type of attitude being expressed. For example, a statement

expresses a belief, a request expresses a desire, and an apology expresses

regret. As an act of communication, a speech act succeeds if the audience

identifies, in accordance with the speaker's intention, the attitude being

expressed. (Kent Bach)

We perform speech acts when we offer an apology, greeting, request, complaint,

invitation, compliment, or refusal. A speech act is an utterance that serves a

function in communication. A speech act might contain just one word, as in

"Sorry!" to perform an apology, or several words or sentences: "I’m sorry I

forgot your birthday. I just let it slip my mind." Speech acts include real-life

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interactions and require not only knowledge of the language but also

appropriate use of that language within a given culture.

Here are some examples of speech acts we use or hear every day:

Greeting: "Hi, Eric. How are things going?"

Request: "Could you pass me the mashed potatoes, please?"

Complaint: "I’ve already been waiting three weeks for the computer, and I was

told it would be delivered within a week."

Invitation: "We’re having some people over Saturday evening and wanted to

know if you’d like to join us."

Compliment: "Hey, I really like your tie!"

Refusal: "Oh, I’d love to see that movie with you but this Friday just isn’t

going to work."

2. Speech act hierarchy:

There are three distinct levels of action beyond the act of utterance itself. That is,

the act of saying something, what one does in saying it, and what one does by

saying it, and dubs these the 'locutionary', the 'illocutionary' and the

'perlocutionary' act, respectively.

Suppose, for example, that a bartender utters the words, 'The bar will be closed

in five minutes,' reported by means of direct quotation. That case performing the

locutionary act of saying that the bar (i.e., the one he is tending) will be closed in

five minutes (from the time of utterance), and what is said is reported by indirect

quotation (notice that what the bartender is saying, the content of his locutionary

act, is not fully determined by the words he is using, for they do not specify the

bar in question or the time of the utterance). In saying this, the bartender is

performing the illocutionary act of informing the patrons of the bar's imminent

closing and perhaps also the act of urging them to order a last drink. Whereas the

upshots of these illocutionary acts understand on the part of the audience,

perlocutionary acts are performed with the intention of producing a further

effect. The bartender intends to be performing the perlocutionary acts of causing

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the patrons to believe that the bar is about to close and of getting them to want

and to order one last drink. He is performing all these speech acts, at all three

levels, just by uttering certain words.

2.1 Locutionary act:

Or locution, refers simply to the act of saying something that makes sense in the

language; in other words, that follows the grammatical rules of language. In

order to produce a locutionary act, speaker must have the capacity of articulating

the sound (to perform phonic act) in the first place and the language that speaker

produces must be meaningful as well (therefore, propositional act of referring is

created). Obviously, those who have difficulty with actually forming the sounds

and words to create a meaningful utterance in a language (e.g. because it is

foreign or they arte tongue-tied) might fail to produce a locutionary act.

2.2. Perlocutionary act:

The perlocutionary act (or just simply the perlocution) carried out by a speaker

making an utterance is the act of causing a certain effect on the hearer and

others.(Hurford, R).

If I say “There’s a hornet in your left ear”, it may well cause you to panic,

scream and scratch wildly at your ear. Causing these emotions and actions of

your is the perlocutions of my utterance, or the perlocutionary act I perform by

making that utterance.

The perlocution of an utterance is the causing of a change to be brought about,

perhaps unintentionally, through, or by means of, the utterance (Latin per

“through, by means of”). The point of carefully distinguishing the perlocutionary

aspect of the speech act from others is that perlocutions can often be accidental,

and thus bear a relatively unsystematic relationship to any classification of

sentence types.

It’s important to remember that the perlocutionary acts involved in examples

above is not the effect of the original utterance. Rather, the perlocutionary act

involved in making an utterance is that part of the total act which causes such

effects.

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2.3. Illocutionary act:

The illocutionary act (or simply the illocution) carried out by a speaker making

an utterance is the act viewed in terms of the utterance’s significance within a

conventional system of social interaction. (Hurford, R).

Illocutions are acts defined by social conventions, acts such as accosting,

accusing, admitting, apologizing, challenging, complaining, condoling,

congratulating, declining, giving permission, giving way, greeting, leave-taking,

mocking, naming, offering, praising, promising, proposing marriage, protesting,

recommending, thanking.

In saying: “I’m very grateful to you for all you have done for me” performs the

illocutionary act of thanking.

Illocutionary acts form a kind of social coinage, a complicated currency with

specific values, by means of which speakers manipulate, negotiate and interact

with other speakers. To continue the metaphor, social encounters involve the

exchange of illocutions.

Example:

Speaker A: “Hello” (greeting)

Speaker B: “Hello” (greeting)

Speaker A: “You took the last biscuit” (accusation)

Speaker B: “No, I didn’t” (denial)

2.4. Differences between illocutions and perlocutions:

As a further indication of the notion of illocutionary act, we contrast it with that

of perlocutionary act. The perlocution of an utterance is often quite different

from its illocution.

Generally speaking, the illocutionary act inherent in an utterance is intended by

the speaker, is under his full control, and if it is evident, it is also as the utterance

is made, whereas the perlocutionary act performed through an utterance is not

always intended by the speaker, is not under his full control, and is usually not

evident until after the utterance is made.

It is much more usual to talk of a speaker “trying” to carry out a perlocutionary

act (e.g. trying to amuse, or shock, or annoy someone) than it is to talk of a

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speaker “trying” to carry out an illocutionary act (e.g. trying to apologize, or to

offer someone something, to complain about something). In the later case, but

not the former, there is the strong implication that one is being actually

prevented from speaking. Because of these differences, it is possible in very

many cases to classify acts as either illocutionary or perlocutionary.

For example, the act of addressing someone is illocutionary because it is

something that a speaker can decide for himself to do, and be sure of doing it

when he decides to do it. The hearer (the addressee) in a speech situation can not

decide whether to be addressed or not (although he may ignore the fact that he is

being addressed).

The act of persuading someone of something, on the other hand, is

perlocutionary, because the speaker can not be sure of persuading the hearer, no

matter how hard he tries. The hearer can decide whether to be persuaded or not.

The existence of an unclear case, such as contradicting, which seems to have

more features of an illocutionary act and some of a perlocutionary act, shows

that the actual application of this distinction is somewhat fuzzy, but nevertheless,

it is plain that for a large number of acts carried out in, or by, utterances, the

distinction between illocution and perlocution is quite clear.

Obviously there is more hope of being able to discover neat systematic

relationship between speech acts and utterance types (and hence sentence types)

if we concentrate on the illocutions of utterances, rather than their perlocutions.

In short, making the careful distinction between illocutionary acts and

perlocutionary acts enables us to simplify the problem of relating speech to acts.

3. Felicity:

So far, we have outlined a way of looking at speech as action. Utterances can be

seen as significant acts on a social level, e.g. accusations, confessions, denials,

greetings, etc. The question we now pose is: by what system do speakers know

when such social moves are appropriate? That is, in what circumstances are

illocutions used? A further technical notion that of felicity condition, needs to be

introduced in order to give a plausible answer to this question.

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The felicity conditions of an illocutionary act are conditions that must be

fulfilled in the situation in which the act is carried out if the act is to be said to

be carried out properly, or felicitously. (Hurford, R).

For example, one of the felicity conditions for the illocutionary act of ordering is

that the speaker must be superior to, or in authority over, the hearer. Thus, if a

servant says to the Queen “Open the window”, there is a certain incongruity, or

anomalousness, or infelicity in the act (of ordering) carried out, but if the Queen

says “Open the window” to the servant, there is no infelicity.

A felicity condition for the illocutionary act of accusing is that the deed or

property attributed to the accused is wrong in some way. Thus, one can

felicitously accuse someone of theft or murder, but normally only infelicitously

of, say, being a nice guy, or of helping an old lady to cross the road.

A good way of discovering the felicity conditions of an illocutionary act is to

imagine a situation in which a speaker carries out such an act, or attempts to, but

something in the situation makes the act “misfire”, or not come off

appropriately. For example, in question “Have that cigarette?” the speaker is

definitely carrying out an act of offering a cigarette, but there is something odd,

or infelicitous about the offer, as the hearer already has the cigarette. This shows

that one of the felicity conditions for the act of offering is that the hearer must

not already have the thing offered.

4. Direct, indirect and nonliteral speech acts:

We can perform a speech act (1) directly or indirectly, by way of performing

another speech act, (2) literally or nonliterally, depending on how we are using

our words, and (3) explicitly or inexplicitly, depending on whether we fully spell

out what we mean.

These three contrasts are distinct and should not be confused. The first two

concern the relation between the utterance and the speech act(s) thereby

performed. In indirection a single utterance is the performance of one

illocutionary act by way of performing another. For example, we can make a

request or give permission by way of making a statement, say by uttering 'I am

getting thirsty' or 'It doesn't matter to me', and we can make a statement or give

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an order by way of asking a question, such as 'Will the sun rise tomorrow?' or

'Can you clean up your room?' When an illocutionary act is performed indirectly,

it is performed by way of performing some other one directly. In the case of

nonliteral utterances, we do not mean what our words mean but something else

instead. With nonliterality the illocutionary act we are performing is not the one

that would be predicted just from the meanings of the words being used, as with

likely utterances of 'My mind got derailed' or 'You can stick that in your ear'.

Occasionally utterances are both nonliteral and indirect. For example, one might

utter 'I love the sound of your voice' to tell someone nonliterally (ironically) that

she can't stand the sound of his voice and thereby indirectly to ask him to stop

singing.

II. Politeness:

1. Definition:

In everyday conversation, there are ways to go about getting the things you want.

When you are with a group of friends, you can say to them, “Go get me that

plate!”, or “Shut up!” However, when you are surrounded by a group of adults at

a formal function, in which your parents are attending, you must say, “Could you

please pass me that plate, if you don’t mind?” and “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to

interrupt, but I’m not able to hear the speaker in front of the room.” In different

social situations, you are obligated to adjust your use of words to fit the

occasion. It would seem socially unacceptable if the phrases above were

reversed.

Politeness is basic to the production of social order and a precondition of human

cooperation, so that any theory which provides an understanding of this

phenomenon at the same time goes to the foundation of human social life.

(Brown & Levinson).

2. Strategies of politeness:

To perform an action other than in the most clear and efficient manner is to

implicate some degree of politeness on part of speaker.

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Politeness strategies are developed in order to save the hearers’ “face”. Face

refers to the respect that an individual has for himself or herself, and maintaining

that “self-esteem” in public or in private situations. Usually you try to avoid

embarrassing the other person, or making them feel uncomfortable. Face

Threatening Acts (FTA’s) are acts that infringe on the hearers’ need to maintain

his/her self esteem, and be respected.

There are four main types of politeness strategies: bald on record, negative

politeness, positive politeness, and off-record or indirect strategies.

2.1. Bald on-record:

Bald on-record strategies usually do not attempt to minimize the threat to the

hearer’s face, although there are ways that bald on-record politeness can be used

in trying to minimize FTAs implicitly. Often using such a strategy will shock or

embarrass the addressee, and so this strategy is most often utilized in situations

where the speaker has a close relationship with the audience, such as family or

close friends. Various cases might use the bald on-record strategy, including:

Instances in which threat minimizing does not occur

Great urgency or desperation

Watch out!

Speaking as if great efficiency is necessary

Hear me out...

Task-oriented

Pass me the hammer.

Little or no desire to maintain someone's face

Don't forget to clean the blinds!

Doing the FTA is in the interest of the hearer

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Your headlights are on!

Instances in which the threat is minimized implicitly

Welcomes

Come in.

Offers

Leave it, I'll clean up later.

2.2. Positive politeness:

Positive politeness strategies seek to minimize the threat to the hearer’s positive

face. They are used to make the hearer feel good about himself, his interests or

possessions, and are most usually used in situations where the audience knows

each other fairly well. In addition to hedging and attempts to avoid conflict,

some strategies of positive politeness include statements of friendship, solidarity,

compliments, and the following examples from Brown and Levinson:

Attend to H’s interests, needs, wants

You look sad. Can I do anything?

Use solidarity in- group identity markers

Hey, mate; can you lend me a dollar?

Be optimistic

I’ll just come along, if you don’t mind.

Include both speaker (S) and hearer (H) in activity

If we help each other, I guess, we’ll both sink or swim in this course.

Offer or promise

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If you wash the dishes, I’ll vacuum the floor.

Exaggerate interest in H and his interests

That’s a nice haircut you got; where did you get it?

Avoid Disagreement

Yes, it’s rather long; not short certainly.

Joke

Wow, that’s a whopper!

2.3. Negative politeness:

Negative politeness strategies are oriented towards the hearer’s negative face and

emphasize avoidance of imposition on the hearer. These strategies presume that

the speaker will be imposing on the listener and there is a higher potential for

awkwardness or embarrassment than in bald on record strategies and positive

politeness strategies. Negative face is the desire to remain autonomous so the

speaker is more apt to include an out for the listener, through distancing styles

like apologies.

Be indirect

Would you know where Oxford Street is?

Use hedges or questions

Perhaps, he might have taken it, maybe.

Could you please pass the rice?

Be pessimistic

You couldn’t find your way to lending me a thousand dollars, could you?

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Minimize the imposition

It’s not too much out of your way, just a couple of blocks.

Use obviating structures, like nominalizations, passives, or statements of

general rules

I hope offense will not be taken.

Visitors sign the ledger.

Spitting will not be tolerated.

Apologize

I’m sorry; it’s a lot to ask, but can you lend me a thousand dollars?

Use plural pronouns

We regret to inform you.

2.4. Off-record:

This strategy uses indirect language and removes the speaker from the potential

to being imposing. For example, a speaker using the indirect strategy might

merely say “wow, it’s getting cold in here” insinuating that it would be nice if

the listener would get up and turn up the thermostat without directly asking the

listener to do so.

1. Quality maxim (say what is true) – sarcastic irony (e.g., “That’s brilliant”,

when it is not), metaphor (e.g., “My job is a jail”), rhetorical questions (e.g.,

“Did someone leave the light on?”).

2. Manner maxim (be clear) result in the use of euphemisms and vagueness

regarding the face-threatening act (e.g., “I wonder who forgot to do the

dishes?”).

3. Quantity maxim (be as informative as required) can result in

understatement (e.g., “It’s OK” as a less than positive response to another’s

new hair cut) and overstatement (“the line in the grocery store was a mile

long” as an excuse).

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Also, denying believed propositions (e.g., Ronald Reagan is not an

alcoholic) increases belief in proposition.

Relation maxim (be relevant) raising an issue can trigger a directive

interpretation (e.g., I’m thirsty” as a request for something to drink.

III. Context:

1. Definition:

The context of an utterance is a small subpart of the universe of discourse shared

by speaker and hearer, and includes facts about the topic of the conversation in

which the utterance occurs, and also facts about the situation in which the

conversation itself takes place.

For example, if I meet a stranger on a bus and we begin to talk a bout the

weather (and not about anything else), then facts about the weather (e.g. that it is

raining, that it is warmer than yesterday etc.), facts about the bus (e.g. that it is

crowded) and also obvious facts about the two speakers (e.g. Their sex) are part

of the context of utterances in this conversation. Facts not associated with the

topic of the conversation or the situation on the bus (e.g. that England won the

World Cup in 1966, or that kangaroos live in Australia) are not part of the

context of this conversation, even though they may happen to be known to both

speakers.

2. The importance of context:

The exact context of any utterance can never be specified with complete

certainty. The notion of context is very flexible (even somewhat vague). Note

that facts about times and places very distant from the time and place of the

utterance itself can be part of the context of that utterance, if the topic of the

conversation happens to be about these distant times and places. Thus, for

example, facts about certain people in Egypt could well be part of the context of

a conversation in Britain five years later.

The appropriateness of the definite article is dependent on the context in which it

is used. The expression judged inappropriate in the previous practice would be

quite appropriate in other contexts.

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Contexts are constructed continuously during the course of a conversation. As a

conversation progresses, items previously unmentioned and not even associated

with the topic so far discussed are mentioned for the first time and then become

part of the context of the following utterance. Eventually, perhaps, things

mentioned a long time previously in the conversation will “fade out” of the

context, but how long it takes for this to happen can not be specified exactly.

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CHAPTER II: OFFERING AND RESPONDING TO OFFERS IN

ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

I. Offering:

1. What is offering?

Offer is an act of politely doing something yourself, showing a desire or a

necessity to do something for somebody depending on their needs. In other

words, offer is an act of expression of readiness to do or give if desired.

Its goal is to do something yourself or just do it without saying anything. Offer is

carried out on a condition that there are at least two participants.

For example:

Would you like a cup of tea?

You are willing to bring a cup of tea to the hearer, and the hearer possibly wants

or not.

In some cases, if you want to be very polite when someone else is doing

something, you can also offer to help

E.g. Shall I get it for you?

Making offers, in other words, involves an understanding of etiquette or

politeness. In making offer in English, it is necessary to learn not only certain

words and expressions, but also how to use them appropriately. The way of

offering will depend on the social distance among communicators. It can

sometimes be hard to know how to make an offer. However, communicator will

get better results if they offer themselves to do something or help somebody in

polite way.

2. When do people offer?

In every day interactions, communicators often show other people their

willingness or desire; therefore, it is really important to know the correct way to

present for it. Making an offer properly will not only determine whether they

actually obtain willingness the present to do something for the other. But more

importantly, it will affect the attitude that people have toward others.

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An offer is carried out when people want to present their politeness, their

willingness to the other in doing something. That is, when something has to be

done, they often to do it themselves honestly.

Or, they wish to do things together to the people being offered, including the

case they offer to do it themselves.

In addition, people offer when someone needs help. It means that, they ask

someone whether he/she needs a hand or not

In some situations, an offer is like an invitation to the other. When people give

an invitation, in other words, they are offering.

Similar to request or command, offer is one of an important part in

communication.

II. Offering in English:

There are numerous ways of offers in English. In understanding offer clearly, in

this study, the author considers offers in term of types of sentences: offering in

form of questions, offering in form of statement, offering in form of imperative

sentences. All the offers bring the willingness of the speaker to the hearer.

1. Offering in form of question:

There are many kinds of questions in English, in offering we only consider the

following types of questions: Yes/no question, elliptic question, how-question,

tag-question.

1.1.Yes/no questions:

Because offering act is often tentative and embodies a degree of uncertainty, the

question forms are very commonly used to make offers. The most familiar form

is Yes/No questions beginning with the auxiliary “Shall”.

For example:

- Shall I open for you?

- Shall I phone the hotel?

- Shall I carry your baggage to your room?

- Shall I make a cup of tea?

- Shall I sing to you?

22

(V. Hollett, Business Objectives, page 111)

These sentences beginning with “shall” are considered standard offers because

they occur very often whenever an offer is made. Besides, people may use model

verb as “can” or “may” to begin the offer as in

- Can I give you a hand?

- Can I help you?

- Can I hang your coat up for you?

- Can I help you with that?

- May I get you another drink?

- May I help you?

(J. Leo, A. Richard, New international business English, Page 29)

In general, “can’, “may” can acceptably replace “shall” in these offers without

any change in the meaning or the effectiveness of the offer. These offers imply

that S wants to do an action that is good for H. In other words, the action offered

is done by S, not by H or any one else. We can say these offers are S-oriented. it

is quite different from the set of offers given below, which is, on the other hand,

H-oriented. The offers normally begin with “would”.

“Would you like to + V?”

e.g.

- Would you like to have a rest?

- Would you like to have a cup of tea?

- Would you like to dance?

- Would you like to go and see a film this evening?

(V. Hollett, Business Objectives, page 111)

The action offered in these offers is for H to perform and is considered as favor

or a good thing that benefits H. Now let us have a look at the following

examples:

“Would you like me to + V?”

e.g.

- Would you like me to take you home?

- Would you like me to send it today?

23

- Would you like me to help you with your English?

(Cathrine Walter, New Cambridge English course Student 2, page 109)

These above offers are H-Oriented ones. Subject is “you”; however, the action is

performed by Speaker. These offers can be paraphrased into “Do you agree that

I…. (do something)”. Here, S asks for permission to do something that benefits

H; therefore, this kind of offers is more polite and formal one.

“Would you like + something…?”

- Would you like a cup of tea?

- Would you like some toast?

- Would you like a biscuit?

(a + single countable nouns)

- Would you like some wine?

(Some + uncountable noun)

- Would you like some grapes?

(Some + plural countable nouns)

(V. Hollett, Business Objectives, page 61)

In above examples, the offered objects are things not actions.

Let’s see the following conversation in a hotel:

A: Hi. I have an appointment with Peter De Vuyst.

B: Can I have your name?

A: Sure, here my card.

B: Right, Mrs. Sand. Would you like to take a seat?

A: I’m in a hurry, actually. May I go straight up? I know the way.

B: I’m afraid you’ll need security clearance first.

A: I see.

B: It will take a few minutes, I’m afraid. There is fresh coffee over there if

you would like a cup while you want.

A: Yes, please. Don’t worry. I’ll help myself.

B: I will call Mr. Vuyst.

(V. Hollett, Business Opportunities, Page 74)

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1.2.Elliptic questions:

Elliptic questions are the questions with the ellipsis of subject, auxiliary verb and

main verb.

For example:

- Want a drink?

- Have some beer?

- Tea?

Elliptic questions help to create informality and are used in close relationship.

With this kind of questions, speaker can also give two or more than two

alternatives for the hearer to choose.

In the following offer:

Tea or coffee?

The hearer has three ways of replying: choosing tea, choosing coffee, or

choosing none of tea or coffee.

This kind of offering directly gives the options, so, it seems to be less polite than

the offering in form of Yes/ No question, and be usually used in informal

situations.

In the following conversation:

A: I’m just going to the coffee machine. Would you like some coffee?

B: Oh, yes, please.

A: Black or white?

B: I’d like black.

A: Sure, OK.

(J. Leo, A. Richard, New international business English, Page 19)

1.3. Questions with How:

In this form of offering, the hearer is not only offered but also receives the

requirement of thinking about options under the statement responses.

For example:

- How would you like a game of tennis?

- How about me getting it for you?

25

With phrase: How about, speakers often offer an invitation, a suggestion of

doing something in the future

- How about going to see a movie?

The hearer/subject’s option isn’t appeared in offer.

Other examples:

(a)

A: Are you doing anything special tonight?

B: No, not really. I’m just going home and watching TV.

A: How about going out for a drink?

B: That’s a good idea.

(b)

A: Are you doing anything tomorrow afternoon?

B: Nothing special, why?

A: Well, how about going to a movie?

B: Good idea. It’s nearly a month since I last saw a picture.

Sometimes “How about” in these sentences can be replaced by “What about”:

- What about going to see a movie this evening?

- What about going out for a drink?

1.4. Tag-question:

In general, there are two parts in a tag-question: statement and tag-part.

Similarly, the offers in form of tag-question also have these two parts. Statement

states the willingness or desire in doing something for somebody, tag-part is

used to emphasize the desire in the first part, and tag-part re-states the previous

idea. With tag-part the speaker wants to inform the hearers that they will carried

out what they had offered in the statement. Tag parts are placed at the end of the

sentence, here, the speaker hopes to look for an agreement, not for information.

For example:

I’ll do it, shall I?

I’ll answer it, shall I?

In this form of offer, the most common modal auxiliary verb used is shall.

Rarely we see would, can.

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Moreover, in common tag-question, if the statement is positive, the tag part is

always negative. If the statement is negative, the tag part is always positive.

However, the offer in form of tag-question is different from common kind of tag

question, because both statement and tag part in the offer are positive:

I’ll pick you up at 7 p.m, shall I?

2. Offering in form of statement:

Sometimes, when offering, people don’t need to raise up a question, the hearer

still understands what the speaker wants to offer:

For example:

- I’ll type the report for you.

- If you wish, we would be happy to bring them for you.

- If you need any help, just let me know.

(New International Business English, page 29)

- If you like, I could get it for you.

The structure of this kind of offering:

If you wish/like, we/I would/could….

Through this offer, the speaker wants to know the hearer wish by using very

formal structure: conditional sentence.

Another way:

You look tired, I’ll get you some hot milk.

In that way of speaking, you go straight to the matter; you directly raise the

offers up.

For example:

- I’d like to recommend you a good dentist.

- I’ll pick you up this evening at 7.30.

3. Offering in form of imperative sentence:

For example:

- Let me get it for you.

- Help yourself to more beer.

- Please take a seat.

- Have a biscuit.

27

Using this way of offering the conversation seems to be very informal with the

form of imperative sentence:

V + O

In that case, the communicating mood is relaxed, and, the relationship between

the speaker and hearer is closed. Somehow, the participants in conversation

directly want to offer to the other. In this situation, the participants often are

friends with the same age. Such kind of offer makes the participants feels like at

home.

To make offer more polite, we add please to the sentence:

For example:

Please take a seat.

Or: Take a seat, please.

The position of please in the sentence doesn’t influence to the meaning of the

sentence. Please can be initial or final.

Not similar to the request, the offer in form of imperative sentences doesn’t

mean that the speaker order/ask the hearer to do something.

We can see the offering in form of imperative sentence in the following

conversation:

John: Oh, Anne, that was a wonderful dinner. That’s the best meal I’ve had

in a long time.

Anne: Oh, thank you. Thank you very much!

John: Can I give a hand with dishes?

Anne: Uh, uh. Don’t bother. I’ll do them myself later. Hey, would you like me

to fix some coffee?

John: Uh, thanks a lot. I’d love some. Uh, would you mind if I smoke?

Anne: Why, not at all. Here, let me get you an ashtray.

John: Aw, thanks very much!

“Here, let me get you an ashtray” It means that Anne offered John permission to

smoke, and that made John felt comfortable.

In general, in imperative sentences, the hearer is ordered or asked to do things;

however, offering in form of imperative sentences, the hearer is offered with

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something having been done by the speaker. The hearer has option to receive the

offer or not, level of compulsory is not as high as in the request sentences.

III. Offering in Vietnamese:

There are numerous ways of offering in Vietnamese. They are ranged from

formality to informality, authority to closeness by the variations of ages, social

status and situations. Similar to English offer, the variations are realized by

intonation and stress. Furthermore, the Vietnamese has its own typical

characteristics; it is a wide choice of vocative personal pronouns, which

interferes in discriminating meanings of offers.

1. Offering in form of question:

An offer in form of question in Vietnamese often ends with the auxiliary word

“nhД.

For example:

- Ch¸u më cöa gióp b¸c nhÐ?

Can I open the door for you?

- §Ó m×nh gióp b¹n mét tay nhÐ?

Can I give you a hand?

- Tèi nay ®i ch¬i víi m×nh nhÐ?

Would you like to go out this evening?

According to NguyÔn H÷u Quúnh (2001), auxiliary words are used in

Vietnamese to enhance the meaning of the words and the sentences or to show

the speaker’s attitude. Similar to adverbs and relative words, auxiliary words

can’t be the centre of the sentences, neither a subject nor predicative but they can

carry only additional meaning. Also, omitting auxiliary words, the structures of

the groups and sentences remain unchanged.

“NhД is not “notional word” but “formal word”. Offering ending with this

word sounds relaxed, less tense and more convincing. The gap between two

strangers can be narrowed and the speaker’s desire can be deepened.

In addition, formality can also be reached by the tag question:

“®­îc kh«ng/cã ®­îc kh«ng?”

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For example:

M×nh x¸ch hµnh lý cho b¹n cã ®­îc kh«ng?

Can I help you with your luggage?

Similar to “nhД, we see offering with “chø”.

B©y giê vÒ råi chø? (DiÖp Quang Ban, Ng÷ ph¸p TiÕng ViÖt)

Can I give you a lift?

The question word “®­îc kh«ng, cã ®­îc kh«ng, chø” are often used in offering

in Vietnamese.

Sometimes, we add formal word “¹” when the hearers are the old to express the

respect.

For example:

- Ch¸u x¸ch hµnh lý cho b¸c cã ®­îc kh«ng ¹?

Can I help you with your luggage?

- Ch¸u më cöa gióp b¸c ®­îc kh«ng ¹?

Can I open the door for you?

Some offers end with “…th× sao nhØ”

- Cßn b÷a tèi vµo tèi thø 7 nµy th× sao nhØ?

How about dinner this Saturday?

In this situation, the speaker offer an invitation to the hearer to go out for dinner

informally “Th× sao nhØ” shows equality in age, position between the hearer and

speaker.

Some offers end with question word “kh«ng”:

For example:

- CËu cã muèn ®i xem trËn ®Êu quÇn vît víi m×nh vµo chñ nhËt tuÇn nµy

kh«ng?

Would you like to see a tennis match with me this Sunday?

Other examples:

- Would you like some biscuit?

B¹n cã muèn vµi c¸i b¸nh bÝt qui kh«ng?

- What/How about some fish?

Cßn mãn c¸ th× sao?

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- Why don’t you go with us?

B¹n ®i víi chóng t«i nhÐ?

- Would you like to join with us?

Cã muèn tham gia cïng víi chóng t«i kh«ng?

- Shall we go together?

Chóng ta cïng nhau ®i nhÐ?

- Would you like to come along?

B¹n cã muèn tham gia kh«ng?

2. Offering in form of statement:

Similar to English, in offering in Vietnamese in form of statement, the speaker

states an offer without using question-words and question marks.

For example:

Em sÏ giíi thiÖu cho sÕp mét nha sÜ giái!

I’d like to recommend you a good dentist. (Between employee-employer)

Tr«ng em cã vÎ mÖt, ®Ó chÞ lÊy cho em cèc s÷a nãng!

You look tired, I’ll get you some hot milk.

3. Offering in form of imperative sentence:

Offers of this type often begin with “®Ó” or “h·y ®Ó” as in:

- §Ó anh gióp em mét tay.

- §Ó anh ®­a em vÒ.

- H·y ®Ó ®Êy cho m×nh.

If the speaker wants to be more direct, he/she can make his/her offer in form of

an imperative sentence rather than a question.

For example:

- §»ng Êy ®i ch¬i víi tí c¸i ®i! (DiÖp Quang Ban)

Let’s go out!

- Ngon ®¸o ®Ó, cø thö ¨n mµ xem! (DiÖp Quang Ban)

It’s really delicious, let’s try!

Such cases above are used when speaker and hearer are closed (may be friends).

In Vietnamese, offering in form of imperative sentences represent an informal

attitude, the communication environment is comfortable.

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In the situation, one man offers a younger woman to have a cup of coffee.

Em ®i cã mét m×nh µ? Thä ngËp ngõng. Ta vµo kia uèng cµ phª ®i.

Let’s have a cup of coffee.

See some following sentences with “let’s”.

- TÊt c¶ cïng uèng mét chÇu nµo.

Let’s all have a drink.

- Chóng ta h·y ®i kiÕm n¬i nµo uèng mét chót ®i.

Let’s go and have a drink somewhere.

- §i ¨n kem ®i.

Let’s go and have an ice-cream.

The speaker wants to create comfortable feelings to hearer, like in the following

situations:

– ThÕ nµo còng ra c«ng viªn chÐn víi m×nh vµ Ba ®·.

Dine with me and Ba at the inn in the park.

– Uèng ®i chó.

Have a drink.

– H·y thong th¶, uèng vµi chÐn chÌ tµu víi t«i ®·.

Have a cup of tea with me.

– Cø tù nhiªn.

Help yourself.

– Tù nhiªn dïng thªm r­îu vang.

Help yourself to some more wine.

IV. Responding to offers in English and Vietnamese:

1. Responding to offer in English:

When receiving an offer in English, the hearer has two ways of responding:

either accepting or refusing. In certain circumstances, the ways of accepting and

refusing are different. And, there are numerous ways of responding to offer in

English: informal and formal ways.

1.1.Accepting offers in English:

Among many ways to accept an offer, one common way follows the structure:

Saying “Yes” + Thanks

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Yes, thank you/Thanks.

Yes, please. Thanks a lot.

In accepting an offer, saying “thanks” is very important, because “thanks”

present not only politeness but also the pleasant and thanking of the hearer to the

speaker

It’s short answer of accepting to offer. In addition, the long answers following

express the politeness and formality:

- That is very kind of you. Thank you very much.

- I’d love some. Thank you.

- That would be great. Thank you.

- Oh, would you? Thank you very much.

- That’s nice of you. Thanks.

- Yes, please. Thanks a lot.

Some very informal answers:

- Okay.

- Great.

- Yes, of course.

Depending on the expected result, relationship, certain situation, the hearer

chooses the different ways to present the acceptance to offer:

For example:

- I’ll answer it, shall I?

That’s very kind of you.

- Would you like some toast?

I’d love some.

- Would you like to dance?

I’d love to.

- Would you like me to carry that for you?

Thank you very much.

- Would you like me to turn the lights on?

Yes, of course.

33

(V. Hollett, Business Objectives, Page 111)

Let’s see in the following conversations:

(a) A: Are you doing anything special tonight?

B: No, not really. I’m just going home and watching TV

A: How about coming out for a drink?

B: That’s a good idea.

(b) A: I don’t know when I’ll get time to get to the post office.

B: Shall I post them for you?

A: Oh, that would be great. Thanks a lot.

B: You are welcome.

(V. Hollett, Business Objectives, Page 114)

(c) Offering a classmate to spend the evening with you at your home:

A: Are you going to do anything special this evening, Jane?

B: No, I don’t think I have anything special to do.

A: Would you like to come over and spend the evening with us. We’ve

a friend who just came from China. I thought you might be interested

in meeting her.

B: Sure, I’d love to. I’ll come over around seven.

A: That’s fine. See you later.

1.2. Refusing offers in English:

How to refuse to offer politely is very important in communication.

When making an offer, the speaker wants to receive “Yes” answer, so, the way

of refusing offer can influence much to the speaker’s face. If the hearer is a bit

impolite when refusing, he/she can make the speaker lose their faces. The proper

way of refusing will avoid a tense conversation.

One refusing sentence has the form as following:

Saying “No” + “thanks” + the reason for refusing offer.

For example:

No, thanks, don’t bother. I can do it myself.

No, it’s all right, thanks. I think I can manage.

Thanks ever so much, but it’s all right, really.

34

Thanks a lot, but I’m OK.

Saying “No” means refusing. The hearer must show that he/she sincerely thanks

to the speaker’s offer. Through saying “No”, he/she must express the pleasant if

having another chance to receive an offer again. Certainly, the hearer gives the

reasonable explanations/ideas for his/her refusal.

There are some offering and refusing to offers:

- Would you like some grapes?

No, thanks, it looks lovely, but I’m full.

- Shall I open it for you?

No, thanks. I can do it myself.

- Can I hang your coat up for you?

No, thanks. I’ll keep it on.

- Would you like to go and see a film this evening?

Not this evening, thanks. Perhaps another time?

(V. Hollett, Business Objectives, Page 11)

In this situation, always be gracious to someone offer you, whether you need or

not the offer, just thanks them if you don’t need, however give them another

opportunity to offer you and tell them that you maybe available in the near

future.

The hearer refuses and gives another choice:

(a) Would you like some tea?

Thanks, I’d prefer coffee, if you’ve got some.

(b) Shall I put the kettle on for a cup of tea?

I’d prefer coffee, if you have some.

In both (a) and (b), the speaker offers a cup of tea, but the hearer prefers coffee,

so, the hearer gives the one more option - coffee.

Practice some conversations:

(1) A: Here, shall I open the door for you?

B: Yes, please.

A: You have got a lot there. Shall I give you a hand?

B: No, it’s all right. Thanks. I can manage.

35

(2) A: I have lost all my money.

B: Shall I buy you a drink?

A: No, thanks, all the same.

B: Well, shall I give you a lift home then?

A: Yeah, I think you’d better.

(Business objective, page 114)

When refusing to offer, the hearer often present the regret not to have the

chance to receive offer.

You must be polite and respectful to anyone offering help. This applies whether

you need the assistance or not.

In the following conversation, the speaker makes an offer of going out for seeing

a concert:

A: Tim, I want to ask if you’re free on Wednesday evening. I’ve got two

tickets for the theatre and unfortunately my wife can’t go. I’m wondering if

you might like to go with me.

B: Gee, I’m really sorry. I can’t go.

A: I thought you had no classes on Wednesday.

B: No, I don’t teach on Wednesday. But this Wednesday, I’ve to baby-sit.

A: What? Babysitting? Where is Joan?

B: She’s going to an evening class.

A: Well, that’s too bad.

(TiÕng Anh giao tiÕp thÕ kû 21)

The hearer gives some reasons for not accepting the offer:

For example:

The offer: “Would you like to see a movie?”

There are several ways of refusing:

- Thank you. I’d like to, but I have to work late.

- Thank you, I’d love to, but I need to save money.

- Thank you, I’d like to, but I want to visit my parents.

- Oh, I’m sorry, but I can’t go. I’m very busy.

(New Interchange, page 24)

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- That’s very kind of you, but…

- I think I’d prefer do that myself because…

- It looks lovely, but…

- No, thank you. It’s not necessary.

Particularly, for the offering help, always be gracious to someone offering you

help, whether you need or not, just thank them for offering to help you, and, if

you don’t need it, just tell them that you can handle it, but give them another

opportunity to help you and tell them that you may need their offer in the future.

Forms of refusing offer to help:

(a)

Negative phrase Refusal

No I don’t need

That kind of refusing rarely appears.

(b)

Negative phrase Thanking

No

No

No

Thanks

Thank you

Thanks anyway

(c)

Thanking Reason why not accepting the

offer

Thanks I will reserve these books and

pick them up later as I will take

my younger sister tomorrow

(d)

Positive

comment

Reason/explanation

why not accepting

Thanking

You’re so

kind

A nice offer

But I’m okay without

that item

But I can open it myself

Thanks

Thank you

37

It means, “Thank you for offering, but I think I’m Ok with this at the moment. I

really appreciate your offer.”

(e)

Exclamation Expressing regret

Oh, what a pity I wish I didn’t buy the ticket for

the bus coming

(f)

Consolation Reason/explanation

No worry Never mind

2. Responding to offers in Vietnamese:

How to offer is very important in Vietnamese, and how to respond to offers is

more important. In Vietnamese, there are many ways to respond to offer.

2.1. Accepting offers:

Most of acceptance of Vietnamese is formal and sensitive; still, there are some

informal ways:

With offer: Can I open the door for you?

There are several ways to reply:

- V©ng, c¸m ¬n. (Yes, thanks) (informal way)

- V©ng, quÝ ho¸ qu¸. (Thanks, that is very kind of you.) (formal way)

- Qói ho¸ qu¸, thÕ th× cßn g× b»ng. (Thank you. That’s very kind of you)

(formal way)

You are offered to come to a party. You are very happy. You express pleasant

through these responses:

- V©ng, tuyÖt qu¸, t«i rÊt thÝch.

Yes, that’d be splendid. I’d love to.

- ý kiÕn nµy hay ®Êy.

That sounds a nice idea.

38

2.2. Refusing offers in Vietnamese:

In communication, all speech acts toward a certain practical purpose; we must

choose one proper form to present each speech act. For example, when a person

refuses an offer about going to see a film, at that time, depending on expected

results, on relationship, on certain communicative conversation, we should use

one of the following expressions:

- Chµ! Tèi nay bËn!(1)

- ê! Phim xem råi! M×nh ch¶ ®i ®©u!(2)

- ¤i! Phim ®ã ch¸n ¬i lµ ch¸n! Xem lµm g×!(3)

- CËu ®iªn µ? Tèi nay ®µi b¸o lµ cã b·o…(4)

- Ch¸u rÊt c¶m ¬n b¸c, nh­ng h«m nay ch¸u trãt hÑn mét ng­êi b¹n

råi…(5)

(§inh Träng L¹c-NguyÔn Th¸i Hoµ, Phong c¸ch häc TiÕng ViÖt)

These above ways of responding have different senses and attitudes. To close

friend or familiar people, we use the informal way to respond, or even add jokes,

like (1), (2), (3), (4). On the other hand, when responding to the Old, naturally,

we must present the politeness and sincerity, like (5).

In daily conversation, how to refuse offer effectively is not simple. See several

ways as following:

Direct way to refuse offer:

- Lªn xe t«i chë vÒ nhµ!

T«i kh«ng cÇn anh hé tèng vÒ ®©u!

I don’t need to escort me home!

This direct way may lose the hearer’s face. However, we rarely use this way. The

communicators often use polite, light ways to succeed in refusing offer.

For example:

“Can I give you a hand?”

Th«i c¶m ¬n lßng tèt cña b¹n!

No, thanks for your kindness.

Or:

Kh«ng ®©u, anh biÕt lµ kh«ng thÓ mµ, dï sao còng c¶m ¬n.

39

No, no. I know you can’t. Thanks anyway.

Indirect ways to refuse to offer:

For example:

“Can I open the door for you?”

Th«i mµy më c¸nh cöa nµy kh«ng ®­îc ®©u!

No, you can’t open this door.

Or: Tao kh«ng muèn mµy ph¸ c¸i cöa nµy ®©u.

I don’t want you to destroy this door.

Or: Chµ, chµ. Anh tèt qu¸, nh­ng em nghÜ em tù më ®­îc. C¶m ¬n anh

nh¸!

Look! You are so kind! But I think I can do it myself. Thanks.

Some responses to the offer:

“Can I give you a lift?”

D¹, c¶m ¬n chó. PhiÒn chó qu¸. Ch¸u ®îi ®­îc mµ!

Thanks. No worry. I’m waiting here.

B¹n thËt hµo phãng lµm sao, nh­ng t«i quen víi viÖc nµy råi!

You’re so generous, but I’m familiar with it.

C¶m ¬n em, anh nÆng h¬n Tr­ B¸t Giíi ®ã! Cã chë næi kh«ng? (a

joke)

Thanks, but I’m heavier than Mr. Tru Bat Gioi. Can you do it?

Kh«ng, em ph¶i vÒ b»ng xe buýt, v× ba ®ang ®îi ë bÕn xe buýt kÕ tiÕp mµ!

No, I must come home by bus, because my Dad is waiting for me at the

next bus stop!

We can draw the general structure to refuse offer:

Direct ways to refuse offers:

(a)

Negative words/phrases Thanking

Th«i

Kh«ng

Khái cÇn/Cãc cÇn

Ch¶ cÇn ®©u

C¶m ¬n

C¶m ¬n

C¶m ¬n

C¶m ¬n

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The equivalence to “No, thank you” or “No, thanks”, commonly, is “kh«ng, c¶m

¬n”; however, in very informal situation, that is, “ch¶ cÇn ®©u/cãc cÇn ®©u, c¶m

¬n!”

(b)

Thanking Reasons/explanation why not

accepting

C¶m ¬n anh

C¶m ¬n nh¸

Em cã thÓ ®i xe buýt vÒ

M×nh chê xe buýt ®­îc råi

(c)

Sympathizing with S Proposal

Lµm g× ®ñ søc mµ chë §Ó ®ã

(d)

Expressing afraidness Reason/Explanation for

afraidness

Em chØ sî

Em kh«ng muèn

lµm phiÒn sÕp th«i

anh ®æ må h«i v× nh÷ng chuyÖn

vÆt nµy

(e)

Words/phrases Thanking Reason/explanation why not

accepting

No

Th«i mµ

Thanks

C¸m ¬n

But I think I can manage

Tao lµm ®­îc

Some other refusals are flexibly used as in:

- õ, xe buýt s¾p ®Õn råi. Anh c¶m ¬n em nhÐ!

- D¹, em kh«ng muèn anh ®æ må h«i v× c¸nh cöa nµy ®©u ¹!(employer-

employee)

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The refusal of offer:

“I can lend you my money!”

Is: “Mµy t­ëng mµy lµ ai chø? Bill Gate h¶?... mµ ®ßi cho anh mµy m­în tiÒn.”

This refusal is very informal, like a joke.

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CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATION

1. Findings:

During the process of the study of offering and responding to offers in English

and Vietnamese, the writer found out a lot of interesting issues related to the

subject, especially that of making offers and their responses in English and

Vietnamese.

Communication and communicative competence are the first priority. The

language learners must have good communicative competence (how this

language is used in a specific socio-cultural context) besides having linguistic

competence (the knowledge of grammar and structure).

The writer realized that using politeness in English and Vietnamese is very

important and necessary because the politeness is indispensable in

communication. Imagine that if there is no politeness in communicating with

others, communicators will feel unpleasant and uncomfortable. In addition,

politeness in English is relatively as same as in Vietnamese.

The study states many ways of making offers and responses to offers. The way

to offer and respond to offer depends on age, relationship and situation.

According to those factors, people can respond to offer formally or informally.

Through the study, we can see some differences and similarities between making

offers and responding to offers in English and Vietnamese.

Both speaking of English and Vietnamese, when making offers, want to give H

something beneficial or to do H an action that is good for H. The act of offering

in both languages shows S’s consideration toward H and also S’ expectation that

H will accept the offer. The offering act is tentative and embodies a degree of

uncertainty so it always calls for an answer of either acceptance or refusals from

H.

Both speakers of English and Vietnamese can choose from various forms and

ways of offering which may include forms of questions, form of statements and

form of imperative sentences.

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To make offers more effective, both speakers of English and Vietnamese can use

same devices such as lexical items. In English the word “please” is often used

while “h·y”, “cø”, “nhД are used in Vietnamese.

When refusing the offer, both hearers in English and Vietnamese try not to hurt

speakers’ feeling by making the refusal as tactful and reasonable as possible.

When accepting the offer, hearers in both languages often show their happiness.

However, some differences can be found in the act of offering in English and

Vietnamese.

The types of question that are used in making offers in English varied more than

those in Vietnamese. In English there are Yes/No questions, elliptic questions,

tag questions and questions formed with “How” while in Vietnamese, in most

cases, only Yes/No questions with “nhД or “chø”or tag question “®­îc kh«ng

¹?” are used.

In addition, the vocabulary used in offers in Vietnamese is much more

diversified. Vietnamese speakers often use such words as “nhД, “¹”,”d¹”,

“th«i”…that are difficult to find their equivalents in English. Moreover, the

addressing system in Vietnamese is much more complicated than it is in English.

2. Implication:

Learners of a foreign language are generally interested in studying the culture of

the target language. They want to know about the native’s way of life, what they

are like? What their customs are like? It’s the trend of knowledge. They want to

understand more clearly about culture which then can help much in

communicating with native speakers accurately, fluently, naturally. The ability

to react with speakers of another language depends not only on language skills

but also on comprehension of cultural habits and expectations.

The ways to make offers and respond to offers properly is very important and

necessary in business and trading, especially restaurant business. People value

politeness the most important thing. In fact there are more likely to forgive

inaccuracies than rudeness. In restaurant business, to offer politely is a vital

thing to make success of restaurant’s staff. For instance, the waiters and waitress

won’t be successful if they don’t know how to offer and if there is no politeness.

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Hence, the waiters always must communicate and behave politely with their

guests. Here are some tips for making offers politely in business meetings:

- Don’t use phrase like: “What do you want to drink…?”, that sounds rude, so,

please use “Would you like…?”/ “What would you like?”, that sounds more

polite.

E.g. Would you like a cup of coffee?

- Remember to use “please”.

Using “please” shows your pleasure to offer something to somebody:

Would you like some toast, please?

- Use modal verbs:

The verbs change the mood of the sentence and allow you to sound polite and

diplomatic. They also make the speaker and hearer come closed, reduce distance

between speaker and hearer. Taking notice of the use of different modal verbs is

also important.

For example, using modal verb “could” sounds more polite than “can”:

Could I give you a lift? (1)

Can I give you a lift? (2)

In the sentence (1), the hearer will feel more comfortable.

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PART III: CONCLUSION

1. Summary of the study:

With the help of supervisor, teachers, family and friends, this graduation paper

has been completed on time.

After consulting and collecting information from both English and Vietnamese. I

have designed this paper into three parts; the second part which consists of three

chapters is the main part.

Chapter one states theoretical background on speech act theory, context, and

politeness theory.

Chapter two focus on studying offering and responding to offers in English and

Vietnamese. This chapter is divided into four main sub-parts: an overview in

offering, offering in English, offering in Vietnamese, responding to offer in

English and Vietnamese. I would like to give as many examples and

conversations as possible which are of best selection from different sources in

both English and Vietnamese in order to help readers have a wide and clear

understanding of my study.

Chapter three states some findings and implication on the study.

Due to the limitation of time and knowledge of mine in this field, the research

paper may not satisfy the readers entirely. There still remain some shortcomings

and limitation in this paper.

Once again, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Mr.

Trinh Van Sach (M.A) as well as all of my teachers in Foreign Language

Department for their guidance and comments.

2. Suggestions for further study:

Offering and responding to offer in English and Vietnamese is a broad subject to

researchers. Therefore, the author of this study would like to give some

suggestions which may be useful for further researches:

- Offering and responding to offers in English and Vietnamese in business context.

- Offering and responding to offers between English and Vietnamese, a contrast

analysis.

46

REFERENCES:

Books:

1. Hurford, R (1983), Semantics, CUP.

2. Hång Oanh, TuyÕt S¬n, TiÕng Anh giao tiÕp thÕ kû 21, NXB Tp HCM.

3. Ban Quang, DiÖp, (1998), Ng÷ ph¸p TiÕng ViÖt, NXB GD.

4. H÷u Quúnh, NguyÔn, (2001), Ng÷ ph¸p TiÕng ViÖt, NXB Tõ ®iÓn B¸ch Khoa.

5. Träng L¹c, §inh, (2001), Phong c¸ch häc TiÕng ViÖt, NXB GD.

6. To¸n Minh, Bïi, A Lª, Hïng, ViÖt §ç, (1997), TiÕng ViÖt thùc hµnh, NXB

GD.

7. Leo Jones, Richard Alexander, New International Business English, NXB TrÎ.

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Cambrigde University Press.

9. Vicki Hollett, Business Objectives, Oxford University Press.

10. Vicki Hollett, Business Opportunities, Oxford University Press.

11. Jack C.Richards, New Interchange 1, NXB §HQG.

12. David Grant, Robert Mc Larty, Business Basics, NXB §µ N½ng.

Website:

1. http://usingenglish.com.

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/politeness-theory.

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/speechact-theory.

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/context-(language-use).

5. http://ngonngu.net.

6. http://www.learnenglish1.com/2008/05/15/everyday-english-9/3663.htm.

7. http://google.com.vn.